Whats new...

I first have to apologize for not writing in what feels like forever...but things have been extra busy lately.  We have had a ton of storms lately, causing lots of clean up for Hunter in the yard.  We also still have the 2 litters of puppies from Maddie and Mossy, which altogether makes 11 puppies, that need to be fed and changed several times daily...September 17th can not get here fast enough.  

I have acquired more chickens, which meant that we needed to expand our chicken house (I can't really call it a coop yet as we are still working on the permanent one).  We are using some of our dog kennels put together in a larger configuration, than what we had before.  This allows me to separate the LF (large fowl) chickens from my Bantams (miniature chickens) as well as give everyone much more space.  We set it up as one large kennel with different dimension stalls, 1 is 5x10, 1 is 10x10, and 2 are 5x5.  Also in the world of chickens, we have adopted some "Show quality" chickens from a friend of mine in Newton, NC.  They are LF English Orpingtons, and they are HUGE.  Hunter refers to them as his Giant Chickens...we have a trio, meaning we have a roo and 2 hens.  These birds take longer to develop than my other chickens because of their size, so we probably won't begin seeing eggs until later this year, maybe even next.  I also have attended my first "Chicken Swap"  in Lincolnton this year, where I traded some of my Polish juvi's for some gorgeous Silver Laced Cochin Bantams.  I bought a breeding pair of Partridge Color Silkies (George and Henrietta), and I also got some more ducks.  My mom has also allowed me to bring each of these new additions with me to her house, as I always seem to go down on days when other family is in town to visit.  Thanks Mom, the chickens all love hanging out under your tree.  I really enjoy my chickens and getting to know them all individually is very entertaining as they all have little quirks about them.  One thing they all have in common though is Treats, and how much they LOVE them!!! We feed our chickens with Purina Layer pellets and crumbles mixed together (it seems to make it last longer) as well as letting them free range from about 8 or 9 am til dark, but their favorite time of day is when they see me coming with either the compost bowl, or a bag of dried cranberries.  They go absolutely nuts for cranberries!!  I literally have them all eating out of the palm of my hand, and at times have to remind them to mind their manners, as they get pushy to get just one more.  We are also still only getting 3 eggs today, 1 brown one from Tillie Millie, a miniature white one from Mrs. Frizzle, and a lovely blue one from Amelia.  Amelia and Mrs. Frizzle share a small dog house as their nest box, but Tillie Millie is much more creative in where she lays her egg.  We had stacked bales of wood chips on our back porch , that had a rolled up hose on top..similar to a nest.  She chose to start laying her eggs there.  Then Hunter moved the hose, and she kept laying eggs there.  This made for a huge mess of eggs rolling off the bales and smashing onto the porch, so we got a nest box and secured it up there.  Well then we needed the wood chips and other chickens were starting to lay, so I moved the nest box back to the coop, and Tillie Millie stopped laying until we put this UNC Carolina chair on the back porch in that same place.  Now she lays every single day in that chair...and raises a huge fuss when we move it, so we don't.  

There is so much more to say but it will have to wait til next time...